Suburban growth inevitable, but will it come with easy access?

Suburban development follows a pretty predictable cycle. Builders construct homes where land is cheap and demand is high, choosing their spots based in part on where people can get from their planned paradise.

So it's no surprise a lot of large developments are planned south of Houston along Texas 288 and near the Grand Parkway. Both roads are high on the list of regional freeway priorities, with construction ongoing or just around the corner. Developers see opportunity and respond.

That starts the growth process all over again, many say. Roads are widened, developers sense the chance to sell people homes with an easy commute, and new homes pop up. The new commuters use up the new road capacity, requiring officials to again widen roads farther from the urban area.

"Developers are confident that if they get too much congestion TxDOT will build them out of it," said David Crossley, president of Houston Tomorrow, a local nonprofit that argues against suburban sprawl and for more in-city investment.

Texas Transportation Commission member Jeff Moseley rejects the notion that transportation officials are playing favorites. Hundreds of people move to Texas' major metro areas every day, he said, and failing to build adequate roads would be foolish - they're coming whether we prepare for them or not.

"Austin tried to limit mobility, and now they're paying for it," Moseley said, noting the capital city's reluctance to widen roads didn't lead to less development or better plans. It just made traffic horrendous, he said.

Both sides in the growth debate, however, agree that the old model of freeways-for-all isn't going to be the norm anymore. Projects will likely be paid for with tolls, and will include carpool and transit alternatives. For those lengthy trips, commuters will be better off finding a buddy or paying a toll or a fare.

Toll-road options

Within two years, the Grand Parkway will enable a driver to go around Houston's west side from U.S. 59 near Kingwood to U.S. 59 near Sugar Land, for a price. The same cost will apply when TxDOT and a private partner add two toll lanes in each direction to Texas 288, along with a tolled connection to the Texas Medical Center.

"As the free-lane congestion gets worse, people will be pushed to these alternative modes, and the tolls can always be adjusted to keep them free-flowing," said Tory Gattis, a blogger who closely follows toll lane development in the region.

Pairing the toll lanes with carpool rules, which reward people for sharing rides and give buses a better chance of cutting through freeway congestion, is the most popular solution.

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Breaking the cycle is rough, and it's hardly the sole responsibility of developers or state transportation officials. Good roads are needed not just to get people from point A to point B, but to get goods in and out of the area.

Transit often gets only lip service, Crossley said.

"It's stunning that all these projects proceed with no thought of high-capacity transit in them. … How can you possibly think of rebuilding a major highway without incorporating the best possible transit facilities?" he said.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority is struggling to keep up with the growth, too. Metro purchased a 15-acre tract along Texas 288 near Hughes Ranch Road in 2011 as a future park-and-ride location. Three other park-and-ride lots are ahead of that one on Metro's list, however, and the agency is having trouble meeting demand at the park-and-ride locations it already has.

With Metro finishing its two newest rail lines later this year and focused on a systemwide re-imagining, Gattis said he suspected private companies and suburban transit systems, like the Woodlands Express, will pick up some of the regional transit demand.

'Eight downtowns'

At the same time, job centers are following residents to the suburbs. That could be costly for the city of Houston as major employers relocate. Exxon's massive campus already has some rethinking the live-work balance in the region. Many offices are moving outside the urban core, even as development downtown remains strong.

Moseley said Houston is developing into "eight downtowns," and roads will always be needed to meet that sort of demand.

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